REDLANDS – Police issued a warning about a man or group of men who have been spotted following or taking pictures of students near the campuses of local schools.

Police have received four reports of men following girls in just over a month. All of the reports placed unknown men in or on vehicles behind girls as they walked. Police have not yet determined if the reports indicate a trend or just coincidence.

“The incidents are kind of similar, but the descriptions of the men are not the same,” said city spokesman Carl Baker.

Police added extra patrols near school campuses both before and after school, said Lt. Rogelio Garcia.

Cmdr. Tom Fitzmaurice said officers became alerted to the odd pattern by looking over “sig logs,” or logs of the significant incidences of the day.

“That sig log is read by every member of the department after every shift is completed,” he said. “We picked up on it pretty quickly that we had similar incidents reported.”

The department formed a mini-taskforce comprised of the extra patrols, the Multiple Enforcement Team and the public safety staffs of each of the city’s high schools.

If a student is approached by a stranger on their way to or from school, Fitzmaurice said the best thing for the student to do is to notify someone immediately – even if it takes knocking on the door of a nearby home.

“There’s safety in numbers,” he said. “Normally, if they see a witness or other people watching, they’re going to move on and look for someone more vulnerable,” Fitzmaurice said.

And high school students often carry cell phones, Garcia said. They should use the cell phones to call police as they have identified that they are being followed by a stranger.

“With the extra patrols, we could be in the area,” he said. “If we can be directed to the area where the suspect is at, we can affect an arrest or at least get to the bottom of why the individual is acting suspiciously.”

And the sooner a victim calls in the information, the better the chance for police in catching the suspects, he said.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Detective Cindy Gourlay at 909-798-7671 or Redlands Police Dispatch at 909-798-7681. Anonymous tips can be provided by texting 274637 using the keyword “REDTIP.”

Be alert, cautious

In little more than a month, police have received reports of four instances of men following girls as they walk to and from school.

April 13: Two Redlands High School girls reported being followed by a man in a black four-door Sedan as they walked to school in the 200 block of East Pennsylvania Avenue.

The girls reported that the man followed them and at one point opened his car door. When they began talking to another male nearby, the man in the car drove away.

They described the driver as a Hispanic man between 30- and 40 years old with a beard or mustache and wearing a blue baseball cap. The car was described as a black, four-door, older model sedan with trash inside. A possible partial license plate was given as “2NX.”

April 9: A female Redlands High School student walked to school on State Street near 11th Street when she noticed a man in a black four-door SUV following and taking pictures of her. She notified campus safety but police never found the man or vehicle.

April 5: A man in a black, mid-sized pickup truck pulled up to a 14-year-old girl in the area of Clifton Avenue and made sexual comments to her.

The girl ran away and the vehicle drove off.

March 12:A 16-year-old girl reported to school officials that she was assaulted the night before by a man on a bicycle in the area of Orange Street and Union Avenue.

The girl said she was walking home along Orange Street at about 6 p.m. when she was approached by a man on a small silver bicycle who jumped off the bike and grabbed the girl from behind.

As a car approached, the man released the girl and rode away on his bike. The suspect was described as a Hispanic man in his early 30s, 5-feet, 4-inches to 5-feet, 5-inches tall, 140 pounds. He was wearing a blue shirt with small lettering over the left breast and dark pants.

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